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Every year in August, Hamilton Book Month celebrates New Zealand authors and their writing, with events covering different genres and age groups. Readers from the Waikato and beyond are invited to meet authors, listen to them discuss their work, and ask questions. With activities and events for all ages, all month, this is a local celebration you won't want to miss.
Visit their website for the full schedule of events.
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Opening: 5.30 - 7.30pm
Thursday 14th August 2025
Exhibition Date: 14th August - 13th September 2025
In Reflex, Sarah Munro invites viewers into a quiet, instinctual space — where watercolor becomes not a tool of control, but a collaborator in uncertainty. These works arise from a process of immediate, unfiltered response: to memory, to mood, to the body’s own rhythm.
Watercolor, with its fluidity and resistance to overworking, mirrors Munro’s interest in what lies beneath conscious thought. Each brushstroke is a reflex — quick, unrehearsed, and honest. Color seeps, bleeds, and settles in ways that cannot be entirely predicted, revealing the tension between surrender and intention that defines her practice.
Rather than plan or perfect, Munro listens. She listens to the way water moves, how pigment pools or vanishes, how gesture meets gravity. The result is work that feels ephemeral yet grounded—at once fleeting and deeply rooted in presence.
Reflex is not a narrative. It is an impulse. A visual record of the moment before interpretation, before language. In this body of work, Munro explores what happens when we trust the immediacy of the hand, the weight of the brush, and the quiet logic of the unconscious.
Han Chao - Hanrad Gallery
Artist Statement:
I am a studio-based painter in Hamilton, New Zealand and an academic specialising in creative practice research in painting and embodied cognition. I have exhibited in New York, Italy and France. Since 2018, I have taught art theory and supervised Honors and Masters-level creative practice research at Waikato Institute of Technology. My doctoral studies explored how painting activates embodied cognition and I am committed to developing this research in both my painting practice and teaching.
Sarah Mitchell Munro
The Bruce Springsteen Experience is an international-level show dedicated to honouring the timeless music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Featuring a full nine-piece lineup, this captivating performance delivers an electrifying blend of visual and audio excitement. Audiences are consistently wowed, with standing ovations being the norm.
As 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic "Born to Run" album, The Bruce Springsteen Experience will perform the album in its entirety, along with a selection of The Boss's greatest hits. This special celebration promises to be a remarkable tribute, allowing fans to relive the magic of Springsteen’s music like never before. Don't miss this unforgettable experience!
Saturday Night Fever defined the disco era and the high-energy second act delivers chartbuster after chartbuster from the Bee Gees, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Yvonne Elliman, The Trammps, Graham Bonnet and others – Night Fever, Jive Talkin’, Disco Inferno, Stayin’ Alive, More Than A Woman, Emotion, Warm Ride, If I Can’t Have You, How Deep is Your Love, You Should be Dancing and so much more.
Saturday Night Fever was the biggest selling sound recording between 1977 and 1980 with highest daily sales of 200,000 USA copies, and topped the popularity surveys of Billboard, Cashbox and Record World.
Awarded the Album of the Year Grammy in 1979, the release stayed in the Top 200 for 29 consecutive months and made Barry Gibb the first solo songwriter in history to have three consecutive #1’s and four songs in the Top Ten simultaneously.
Saturday Night Fever has since been added to the American National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant”. Stayin’ Alive continues to make history as it features the first drum loop ever recorded on a pop music track and the Brooklyn Shuffle moves are still in evidence on the dance floor.
After humble beginnings in a garage, to a record-breaking rise to the top of the podcast charts, Aotearoa’s favourite trio — Jordan Vaha'akolo, Brook Ruscoe, and Marc Peard — are taking The Morning Shift to the people. This August and September, they’ll be bringing eight massive shows across Aotearoa and Australia in their first-ever LIVE tour.
Real people, real talk and now real life. Expect all the stuff you love from the podcast: deep kōrero, big laughs, a few tears, spontaneous/questionable singing, plus whatever Jordan decides to overshare that night. The live show brings the podcast to life, with that signature Morning Shift energy that turns commutes into therapy sessions and takes gym workouts to another level.
The Morning Shift is more than a podcast, it's a community. Having now ticked over two years of being #1 in your hearts (sometimes #1 in the charts), their podcast has become a staple for thousands of New Zealanders who tune in daily.Whether you’re a Day One Shifter or just joined the movement last week — this is your moment.
Rally the crew, book the babysitter, and get ready for a night that promises to shift you.Thanks to Nando’s, who’ve helped take this dream from the garage to the stage.Shift Nation, we on.
Attendees will be provided one of the best views in Hamilton, along with some key speakers providing updates on the central city, some delicious canapes and minimal formalities, we would love to see you there!
Speakers
Market update - Brett Wood – Loan Market
Development update - Mike Neale – NAI Harcourts
Hospitality update - Hear from the new hospitality provider of the Waikato Regional Theatre & Hamilton Hotel
If you are interested to join the Executive Committee of the HCBA, please contact Vanessa Williams (HCBA General Manager) by email vanessa.williams@lovethecentre.co.nz or by phoning 07 838 3905.
If you would like to attend the AGM please RSVP by 25th August by emailing admin@lovethecentre.co.nz
Introducing the Inaugural Waikato Workplace Wellbeing Week PRE-LAUNCH EVENTS!
We are holding two launch events before we crack into the Waikato Workplace Wellbeing Week that's happening from the 18th to the 22nd of August.
We want to celebrate beforehand in the community, get resources out to organisations and connect with like-minded humans!
Monday 11th August 7.30am to 8.30am - Hamilton Launch Event
Sentinel Cafe, Ground Floor, 586 Victoria Street, Hamilton
Tuesday 12th August 7.30am to 8.30am - Morrinsville Launch Event
Oak Eatery, 105 Fairway Drive, Morrinsville 3300
We will be in Morrinsville and Hamilton for early morning kōrero on these days, where we will share insights and practical tips to look at resilience, connection, communication and the environment you are creating together with your team, every day.
